.jpg) USSTelfair (APA-210). The merchant-like appearance of attack transports and cargo ships is belied by their large complements of landing craft. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Telfair |
| Namesake | Telfair County, Georgia |
| Ordered | as aType VC2-S-AP5 hull,MCE hull 558[1] |
| Builder | Permanente Metals Corporation,Richmond, California |
| Yard number | 558[1] |
| Laid down | 30 May 1944 |
| Launched | 30 August 1944 |
| Sponsored by | Mrs J. L. Cauthorn |
| Commissioned | 31 October 1944 |
| Decommissioned | 20 July 1946 |
| Identification |
|
| Honors & awards | 1 ×battle stars for World War II service |
| Fate | laid up in thePacific Reserve Fleet, Stockton Group, 20 July 1946 |
| United States | |
| Recommissioned | 12 September 1950 |
| Decommissioned | 29 February 1958 |
| Stricken | 1 July 1960 |
| Honors & awards | 3 × battle stars for Korean War service |
| Fate |
|
 United States | |
| Acquired | 24 August 1961 |
| Recommissioned | 22 November 1961 |
| Decommissioned | 31 October 1968 |
| Reclassified | redesignated Amphibious Transport (LPA-210), 1 January 1969 |
| Stricken | 1 November 1968 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate |
|
| General characteristics[2] | |
| Class & type | Haskell-classattack transport |
| Type | Type VC2-S-AP5 |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 455 ft (139 m) |
| Beam | 62 ft (19 m) |
| Draft | 24 ft (7.3 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 17.7 kn (32.8 km/h; 20.4 mph) |
| Boats & landing craft carried |
|
| Capacity |
|
| Troops | 87 officers, 1,475 enlisted |
| Complement | 55 officers, 477 enlisted |
| Armament |
|
| Service record | |
| Part of: | TransRon 17 (WWII) |
| Operations: |
|
| Awards: | |
USSTelfair (APA/LPA-210) was aHaskell-classattack transport that saw service with theUS Navy inWorld War II and theKorean War. She remained in service through most of the 1950s and 1960s, where she participated in various peacetime operations.Telfair was named forTelfair County, Georgia, which was itself named afterEdward Telfair, the secondGovernor of the state, a member of theContinental Congress, and a signer of theArticles of Confederation.
Telfair was laid down 30 May 1944, under aMaritime Commission (MARCOM) contract, MCV hull 558, byPermanente Metals Corporation, Yard No. 2,Richmond, California; launched 30 August 1944; sponsored by Mrs. J. L. Cauthorn; and commissioned atSan Francisco 31 October 1944.[3]
Following fitting out atOakland, California, andshakedown andamphibious training offSan Pedro, California, the attack transport returned viaSan Diego to San Francisco to load troops and cargo for her first westward voyage.[3]
On the second day of 1945, she sailed westward and reachedPearl Harbor on 8 January. Nine days later,Telfair resumed her voyage carrying elements of the111th Infantry to thePalaus forgarrison duty. She disembarked troops atPeleliu between 30 January, and 6 February, and then continued on to thePhilippines, arriving atLeyte on 9 February, to prepare for the invasion of theRyūkyūs.[3]
In mid-March, the attack transport embarked elements of the Army's77th Division and sortied fromSan Pedro Bay withTask Group (TG) 51.1.[3]
The "Western Islands Attack Group", as TG 51.1 was called, was responsible for conducting the prelude to theOkinawa invasion by securing the anchorage atKerama Retto, a small cluster of islands just to the south and west of Okinawa. Accordingly, it was the first element engaged in combat in the vicinity of Okinawa during the actual invasion operation. Between 25 March and 2 April,Telfair participated in the assault and occupation of those key islets.[3]
On 30 March, she reembarked her troops, and, on the afternoon of 2 April, she cleared the roadstead for a waiting area to the south. That evening, just after 18:30, her task group was jumped by 10 or morekamikazes.Telfair and her sister-shipGoodhue "...were attacked by three planes in rapid succession." Her gunners and those ofGoodhue combined to explode one in mid-air. A second, after ricocheting between her starboard and portkingposts, smacked intoTelfair'sbulwark, then careened over the side. The third, his glide deflected by gunfire, crashed intoGoodhue's cargo boom, smashed her after20-millimeter gun tubs, and joined his compatriot in the sea.[3]
Telfair remained in the vicinity of Okinawa supporting the invasion until 26 April, when she got underway forUlithi Atoll in theWestern Carolines. She entered the lagoon on 30 April, replenished, and repaired battle damage until 22 May. On that day, the attack transport headed east to return to theUnited States. She reachedSeattle, Washington, on 13 June, disembarked passengers, and underwent further repairs.[3]
On 26 June, she steamed out ofPuget Sound and again pointed herbow westward. On 13 July, she deliveredUS Army hospital units safely toSaipan. Four days later,Telfair left theMarianas, bound for San Francisco, where she arrived on the last day of July.[3]
Putting to sea once more on 12 August, the attack transport shaped a course for Ulithi, but peace had returned to thePacific before she reached that atoll on 28 August. Over the next two months, she steamed betweenLuzon and Leyte in the Philippines, visitingManila from 1 to 13 October. On 16 October, she departedLingayen Gulf to land occupation troops inJapan. She madeHiro Wan andKure, atHonshū, on 20 October, and subsequently landed her passengers.[3]
At the end of October,Telfair reported forOperation Magic Carpet duty. On 2 November, she arrived atSamar, in the Philippines, where she embarked her first load of veterans for the return voyage to the United States. On the 4th, the attack transport departed the Philippines and, after almost three weeks at sea, entered port atPortland, Oregon.Telfair remained on the west coast untilChristmas Eve when she weighed anchor to return to the western Pacific. She stopped at Saipan at the end of the first week in January 1946; then continued on to Manila where she moored on 12 January. For the next two months, she operated in thePhilippine Islands, visitingSubic Bay and Samar.[3]
She departed Samar on 5 March, and, after calling at Pearl Harbor, reached San Francisco on 25 March. On 8 April, she arrived atStockton, California, to begin inactivation overhaul. On 20 July, she was inactive and berthed with theStockton Group, Pacific Reserve Fleet.[3]
TheNorth Korean attack upon theRepublic of Korea in June 1950, returnedTelfair to life. She was ordered activated on 7 August, and actually rejoined theUS Pacific Fleet when she was recommissioned on 12 September 1950. During the period of fighting in Korea, roughly June 1950 to July 1953,Telfair deployed to the western Pacific on three separate occasions.[3]
During the first, from October 1950 to July 1951, she visitedYokosuka,Kobe, andSasebo in Japan andInchon andChinnampo in Korea, shuttling troops from the former three ports to the latter two. Her first and second Korean War deployments were separated by six months of operations along the west coast of the United States.[3]
Her second tour began with her departure from San Francisco on 26 January 1952, and ended upon her return to the west coast at San Diego on 24 May. In the intervening period, she saw no actual Korean service, but steamed between Okinawa, Kobe, Yokosuka, and Sasebo primarily engaged in trainingUnited Nations troops in amphibious operations.[3]
Her third and final deployment during the Korean War began on 30 October 1952 after four months on the west coast. It took her to the already-familiar Japanese ports and to Manila, Subic Bay, andHong Kong, as well as the Korean ports ofPusan, Inchon, the island ofKoje Do and to the vicinity ofSokcho Ri.Telfair returned to San Diego on 20 April 1953, and resumed operations in the eastern Pacific.[3]
Between August 1953 and February 1958,Telfair made three more deployments to the western Pacific. For the most part, her duties during those visits to theFar East consisted of lifting United Nations troops from now-peaceful Korea; shuttling troops and supplies between American bases in Korea, Japan, Okinawa, and the Philippines, and participating in7th Fleet amphibious exercises.[3]
In August 1954, however, she did depart from her normal routine to participate inOperation "Passage to Freedom", in which Navy ships evacuatedVietnameserefugees fromHaiphong, in thecommunist-controlled northern half of newly-partitionedIndochina, toSaigon, in the pro-western southern portion. She returned to San Diego 21 November 1954.[4] During non-deployment periods,Telfair conducted west coast operations and leave and upkeep periods in California ports.[3]
On 29 February 1958,Telfair was decommissioned once more and laid up with theNational Defense Reserve Fleet.[3]
A little over two years later, it appeared that her naval career was at an end once and for all. On 1 July 1960,Telfair was transferred to theMaritime Administration (MARAD), and her name was struck from the Navy List. However, the Navy reacquired her on 24 August 1961, and her name was reinstated on the Navy List on 1 September. She was placed in commission for the third time on 22 November 1961.[3]
Telfair's new seven-year lease on life took her to new oceans and new ports of call for, immediately following training off San Diego, she headed for duty with theAmphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet. She transited thePanama Canal on 1 February 1962, and arrived in her new home port,Norfolk, Virginia, on 6 February. From then until final decommissioning in 1968, she alternated cruises to theMediterranean as a unit of the6th Fleet with operations in the westernAtlantic as a unit of the2nd Fleet.[3]
On her Mediterranean cruises, she joined other units of the 6th Fleet in bi-national and multinational amphibious exercises. She was also on hand inGreek waters in April 1967, as part of the back-up force protecting American lives and property during the takeover by themilitary junta in Athens. When assigned to the 2d Fleet,Telfair operated from Norfolk and cruised the Atlantic seaboard, in theCaribbean and in theGulf of Mexico. She was normally engaged in amphibious exercises withMarines fromCamp Lejeune, though she also conducted summer training cruises formidshipmen of theUS Naval Academy atAnnapolis, Maryland.[3]
In October 1964, she participated inOperation Steel Pike the largest peacetime amphibious landing exercise in history. She landed inHuelva, Spain, with 84 naval ships and 28,000 marines. Afterwards she stopped for liberty atFunchal, on the island ofMadeira and thenSanta Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.[citation needed]
On 31 October 1968,Telfair was decommissioned for the third and final time at theNaval Amphibious Base Little Creek,Little Creek, Virginia. On the following day, her name was struck from the Navy List. On 26 June 1969, she was transferred to MARAD once more, this time for simultaneous transfer to her purchaser, theBoston Metals Company, ofBaltimore, Maryland.[3] She was sold for $103,600.66, and withdrawn from the fleet 14 July 1969.[5]
Telfair earned onebattle star for World War II and three battle stars during the Korean War.[3]
Online resources
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| Subtypes | |
| Museum ships | |
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| Damaged in service | |
| Sank in private use |
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| Seagoing cowboys ships |
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| See also |
|
See also, similar role:-Empire ship,Fort ship,Park ship,Ocean ship. | |
